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July 17, 2020 - 7:33am | By Chris Larson
U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee member, issued the following statement on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finalizing its rule to modernize Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) regulations Thursday:
“The United States energy landscape has significantly changed over the last 40 years, but many federal regulations have not. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s reforms will benefit consumers, prevent abuses of the old regulations, and result in fewer market distortions.”
According to FERC, PURPA was passed to encourage development of small power producers and cogenerators, called qualifying facilities (QFs), and to reduce demand for traditional fossil fuels considered to be in short supply. The regulations were enacted in 1980 and remain in effect today with few substantive changes. Learn more here.
Senator Cramer urged FERC to update these regulations and praised the proposed rule when it was released last September. He also helped introduce legislation to modernize PURPA. Learn more here.
